Coz and Bob Gaines launched my wall career. I fixed to Sickle with my friend Bruce, then we rapped and went back to the car, fully depressed about how long it took us, how big that Stone is, how small we were, etc. Coz and Bob were working to free How the West was Won and they pull up on the way out of the valley and find us sitting by the car. Coz (who knew Bruce pretty well, and had seen me around Josh) says "what are you two doing on the ground?" We mutter some lame gumby excuses. The wall is so big, we are so small, it took longer than we thought to climb to Sickle, etc., etc. Coz and Bob climb back into their ride. Coz takes one more look at us and says, "if you aren't up on that wall tomorrow, we're gonna kick your ass and slash your tires." It was just in kick in the pants we needed (friendly, but a real push back at our excuses). We climbed back on, climbed on up, and summited.

I was always amazed at how he (JB) would tell me the same stories over and over.

One Easter morning I was sitting on a bench in front of the deli w/ an NPS trail crew worker, Bachar stopped by to chat, and soon launched into the story of a recent valley accident where the vic was in a complete death fall, not connected to nothing - but somehow got tangled in a rope below, and survived. He revelled in the luck of the dude. Some months later I read a feature about Bachar in an obscure Eastside rag, and there he was recounting that story.